03/12/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/12/2024 11:06
In December 2012, on the day of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT, where 20 children and six adults were killed, Alex Jones began raising questions about the veracity of the attack. His denial of the murders and further fabrications about a government coverup turbocharged traffic to his site, generating millions of dollars in advertising revenue. Jones would go on to share lies about the incident with his millions of viewers for years to come. Filmed over multiple years with the intimate participation of the parents who sued Jones for defamation, their legal teams, a defense attorney representing Jones and unprecedented courtroom trial access, the documentary tracks the families' battle for truth and accountability following years of painful myths about the tragedy disseminated by Jones and his followers.
Bringing Jones to trial in Texas and Connecticut involved years of effort by grieving parents and their legal teams and culminated in two default judgements of liability after Jones' team declined to comply with discovery and other court orders. In each state, jury trials were then convened to determine damages. Jones attended the two-week-long Texas trial and took the stand to testify, as did the mother and father of one of the children killed that day. The result of both trials was a combined awarding of nearly $1.5 billion to the families, the largest award for damages in a defamation case in United States history. Jones' declaration of bankruptcy shortly afterward may thwart the ability of the plaintiffs to recover those damages, but the historic legal precedent remains a significant milestone in holding to account those who spread disinformation.